I got to thinking about this subject last week with the elections in Massachusetts, and of course when I wrote the check out to pay for my health insurance COBRA.
As I am not a permanent employee yet at my job, I have to keep my COBRA coverage until I get hired on there-or somewhere else-permanently. I grit my teeth once a month when I write this check.
Five-hundred and seven dollars. Yep.
Stupid me for keeping my nice PPO coverage when I got laid off from my last job. Great coverage. Not-so-great prices.
”Get an individual insurance policy then,” you say.
I am unable to get an individual policy due to minor conditions I have been treated for in the past-and are currently being treated for. Mind you that I have never been hospitalized for this nor is this severe, but I have been turned down once for an individual policy due to this. When I inquired recently about this and asked why this condition, that I repeat, have never, ever been hospitalized for, disqualifies me for individual coverage, the insurance broker (who handles my homeowners coverage, I should add) said, “Because they’re afraid they will be paying for your hospitalization.”
HUH?
How many times do I need to repeat myself? I have not been hospitalized for this, nor will I ever be!
And so, I would like to ask all of you this question. What does health care reform mean to you? I know that to my neighbor who had thyroid cancer and needs to take synthetic thyroid for the rest of her life, it means not having to order her drugs through Canada in order to not pay a fortune for this medication.
To me, it means having the insurance company realize that I have lost 90 pounds and am healthy, yet have one condition that I am being treated for. One minor condition.
Why should this stop me from obtaining an individual health insurance policy?
In reality, it shouldn’t. I remember when my work thought about changing to individual policies. Half of the people went on this policy. I got denied, but another woman-a smoker with high blood pressure, I might add, got approved without any problems!
I don’t smoke, I don’t drink and my blood pressure is low.
What is the logic in this?
CNN had a commentator on after the Massachusetts elections who said that Congress and the Senate should have focused on something like doing away with pre-existing conditions, something that everyone can agree on.
Amen to that!
Granted, I was kind of scared with the recent health care reform debates. A giant overhaul of health care ran by the government sounds horrible-and a recipe for disaster. Quality of care will suffer when we have a system like that.
However, I think that insurance companies that deny people individual policies based on reasons such as mine are practicing blatant discrimination and need to be stopped. Plain and simple.
And I’ll be gritting my teeth when I stick the check in the mailbox……
Recent Comments